So...as The Boy described, my weekly contribution to RMN will be a weekly wrap-up on ALL things Mizzou (and a few things that are not). I will rundown every sport which participated in the past week and look to their next competition and preview that as best I can. Some things I feel I know a good amount about, some I wont. And please, if ever there is something you would like to comment on or agree/disagree with, my posts are always open for that. I usually do my best to have these up first thing Monday morning (though clearly that did not happen this week). Sit back and enjoy...it was a pretty good week for Mizzou in case you did not know.
Football:
The Boy and RPT have already given us all the information we would ever need to break down this game. I guess the only thing I can do is nit-pick JUST a little...and trust me, this is going to be tough given the nature of our win and where it will sit in the pantheon of Mizzou games I have seen (up there with the Clarence Gilbert-led destruction of Mizzou at Hearnes and the 2nd round throttling of Ohio State that The Boy and I saw in New Mexico) The only two things I have are penalties (and yes, some of that was product of our being hyped). We are going to need to get back to minimizing the mistakes (which we had been in previous games at the rate of less than 30 yards in penalties per game) from here on out, especially this coming week. The pass interference calls are just killers (and no Boy, that does not mean you should create another stat for that). The only other piece that worried me a little in this past game was us in the redzone. We certainly played well...don't get me wrong (remember I said this was nit-picky) but we do need TD's down there. I even do realize that one was robbed from us on an awful call, but I still want to see us get the ball in the endzone on a better percentage than we did (since Alexander's TD came from outside the RZ and we had to fake the other one).
So...with that out of the way, on to this week. And here comes the build-up. GameDay will be there. Best game of the week. We are going to hear it all week. All I know is this. If we play the way we played on Saturday again, we will win. I also know that OU has not looked tremendous the past couple of weeks and may have some injury issues at RB. Other than that, I dont KNOW anything. I believe we stand a good chance to be very competitive and pull off the upset, but I do not believe we will do it. But at this point, there is no one I would rather have at the helm (and this includes Brad Smith who once handed OU its rear end in a game in Columbia) than Chase Daniel. If it is in fact true and he is more pumped up about NU and OU because of how he played against them last year....well...I have to believe he will do everything he can. As long as he does not force it (which he did once against NU and was lucky to get away with it on the dropped INT), we should be right there.
And by the way, of all things, kudos to the person who told Randy Wright to start saying, "First down, Tigers, M-I-Z". That is how a tradition starts and this ended up being the PERFECT launching point for it.
Volleyball:
As he usually does, The Boy gave you his thoughts and a wrap-up from the crazy 5-gamer Mizzou had out in Boulder during the middle of the week. Watching the game, it is painfully obvious we are still young and that we are were spoiled in previous years by the All-American stylings of Lindsey Hunter. The lack of the killer instinct has clearly troubled the team all season (give the ridiculous amount of 5-game matches we have played) and reared it's head in Boulder, but the Tigers still pulled it out. They returned home to a mixed crowd of volleyball watchers and tailgaters seeking refuge from the heat to battle lower-tier Texas Tech. After taking the first 30-23, I did see all of the 2nd game, and the Tigers did not play terribly well, but definitely battled. They were fortunate to win it at the end with an ace and return error to take the 2nd 31-29. After the timeout, Mizzou came out firing and showed that killer instinct they had lacked in most other matches this season, shredding Tech 30-16 for the sweep to get them to 3-4 in the league and 10-6 overall.
The schedule, as fortuitous as I described last week, remains that way this week. Mizzou will stay at home and welcome the Aggies to town on Wednesday. aTm is sitting at 3-5 in the league, just below Mizzou, so clearly a winnable game, especially when you expect the ladies should have some confidence building back in and the increased play of frosh "Wendy" Wang. This weekend, they will travel down to Waco and take on the Bears, who are currently 2-5. This is their only road game in the next 5, as they will then return for three straight against better teams. However, getting the wins now and getting the confidence and killer instinct could serve them well in a couple of weeks as they look to make a last push towards staying over .500 in the league and perhaps squeezing back into the NCAA's.
Soccer:
First off, congrats to Kristen Andrighetto and Kari Adam, who were named Big XII offensive and newcomer of the week respectively for LAST week. On the season, that makes for four different Mizzou players who have won either of those awards, and the oldest any of them were was SOPHOMORE. The future's so bright.....well....you know the rest.
This past week, just the one game for the Tigers, who traveled down to TTech and did what they needed to do in winning 2-0. Tech did well to control most of the action, shooting often in a shut-out, but Mallory Frost kept the sheet clean for the Tigers. Michelle Collins and Alysha Bonnick both scored their eighth goals on the season and Mizzou will return to CoMo still undefeated and now in sole possession of first in the conference at 3-0 and 9-2 overall.
This coming week, Mizzou welcomes both teams from the Sooner State as OU will come calling on Friday night, and OK State rounding out the weekend on Sunday afternoon. OU is currently 1-3 in conference and .500 overall, while OK State has shown better at 2-2 in conference and a nice 8-3-1 overall, but is coming off of two straight conference losses to aTm (Mizzou win) and Baylor (Mizzou win). Peaking down the road just a bit....road games at UT and CU will likely provide the Tigers with their stiffest remaining competition, with ISU at home rounding out the upper level conference games.
Random Thoughts
* My hopes for a Chicago/Philly/Boston/NY or Cleveland LCS matchups was KILLED this weekend...I was just going for historical matchups. Damn National League can't do anything right, though I have little room to talk considering how my team finished up the season.
* Speaking of New York and sucking, the Jets....yeah....ugh. But good for Brad Smith, congrats on the score
* USF and BC are in the top 5....just strange. It would not surprise me in the least for there to be NO undefeated teams...and then what happens to the BCS.
* Sorry for the late posting on this today...figures my debut and I screw it up